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We tend to pride ourselves on using the latest and greatest phones. Better specs. Faster processors. (More heat!) More megapixels. Pick your poison. But there's absolutely something to be said for the mid-range these days, that category of phone that tries to balance style and performance with a price that doesn't break your wallet.
And there are all sorts of options out there. Motorola arguably started the newest generation of these devices with the Moto G in late 2013. And this week we've gotten our first look at the newest Moto G. And this one, folks, is something special. I'll admit I feel a little funny carrying it around. It's not leather. It doesn't have a curved display. In a much-misused word, it's not sexy. But I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that this may be the best phone for a whole lot of people.
Following are some quick thoughts on the new Moto G:
Read now: First five things to know about the Moto G 2015
The displayThis was my biggest concern coming into the new Moto G. I haven't used a 720p display in a long time. And on a 5-inch display, that's about the lowest resolution I'd ever want to go. And it's ... not horrible. That's damning with faint praise, to be sure. But if so long as you're just going to use the Moto G as a smartphone and not as a gaming platform, it'll probably serve you just fine. Websites look decent enough. Most of my apps look OK — even ones with tons of pictures.
The only time I've really run into something that made me cringe was when I was trying to play Vain Glory on the Moto G. The graphics just didn't look good at all. On the other hand, they were still smooth as butter, and I could just barely feel the phone get a tad warmer in my hand. That's opposed to the crisp graphics and even crispier temperatures on the Nexus 9, which is what I use for gaming. Or for a better comparison, that's compared to what I tend to experience doing just about anything on the G4, GS6 or HTC One M9.
The batteryI'm pleasantly surprised with the battery life so far. As a reminder — and you can find the full specs here — it's got a 2470 mAh battery that's non-removable, meaning you can't swap it out for a fresh one as the day goes on. Motorola promises 24 hours of "mixed usage," which doesn't really mean anything.
But I managed to get from 8 a.m. in New York City to 9 p.m. in Florida. Travel days — even counting the downtime in Airplane Mode — usually are pretty hard on my devices. That the Moto G made it that long leaves me with pretty high hopes for how it'll perform in the long term.
One thing to note, though, is that the Moto G doesn't use any of that newfangled "Quick Charge" stuff. Nor does it have wireless charging available. That's probably not a deal-breaker for most folks, though.
The cameraThere's still a lot of testing to be done, but so far I'm fairly impressed with this camera, given that we're talking about a $200 phone. It's definitely not the best one in my arsenal. But (at least on Day 2) the camera app is very fast to snap off a shot, the wrist-flick gesture to launch the app is as quick as ever — and both of those things are something to watch as you use the phone for a longer period of time — and so far I haven't wanted to put the phone down because of a lack of quality. (Again, just keep that price in mind.)
Would I recommend the Moto G over the LG G4 or Samsung Galaxy S6? Definitely not. But so far it's holding its own in its price range. We've got a lot more testing to do, however.
The softwareI'm coming at the Moto G after using the LG G4 for a couple months. And it's amazing the difference that lighter, more optimized software can make. The G4, frankly, can be a bit of a mess at times. (And I'm talking performance. The user interface is another matter altogether.) I've never really used one of the more mid-ranged phones for any length of time. Not even a full day. But the Snapdragon 410 and 2GB of RAM have the phone working well at just about I typically ask a smartphone to do. Calls, Chrome, Gmail, Facebook, Instagram — all that boring stuff.
It's enough to make you wonder if you even need to mess with a higher-spec'd phone, actually. Not that I'd trade in Quad HD screens or better graphics processing — but it is nice to use a phone for the first time this year that hasn't once become uncomfortable to hold because of the heat.
The priceTypically I don't worry about price when I'm evaluating a smartphone. If you really want it, you'll find a way to buy it — and typically the carriers will aid in that with subsidies. But the new Moto G tops out at $220 for the "high-end" version, just $40 more than the base model that has half the storage and RAM. And I can't stop thinking about that.
Even just two days into using the Moto G, it's clear this is a ridiculously good phone for that price point. I'd go ahead and shell out the extra $40 for 16GB of storage and 2GB of RAM. The camera's not horrible. The software doesn't get in the way. (Plus you get a few of Motorola's cool custom additions in Moto Display, Assist and Actions.) And you know it's going to be updated quickly when new versions of Android come out.
I'm going to have a real hard time recommending anything else for anyone who's looking to not spend a lot of money on a smartphone.
More to come later, folks.
Do you know everything there is to know about your iPhone camera? What about the Photos app? We've covered a lot of this stuff before, but never all in one place! So get ready to go from iPhone camera novice, to iPhone camera expert in five minutes. We're featuring shortcuts, all of the different camera modes, fun features, editing tools, how to create and share a shared Photo Stream, and more!
Did we miss anything? Make sure to let us know!
Sony had a dual-flagship launch cadence annually. But this year's Mobile World Congress did not see any flagship launch, so it looks like Sony is concentrating on having only one flagship a year, thankfully. This year we saw Sony launch the Xperia Aqua M4 and the Xperia C4 in India. The latest flagship, announced only a month after the previous two launches is the Xperia Z3+. So is this just a more powerful variant of last year's Xperia Z3 or is it a new phone altogether? Let us take a look.
Build and Design: 8/10
Sony has been using a similar design playbook for years now, and with the Sony Xperia Z3+ things don't look that different either. The metallic frame on the sides have become slimmer at 6.9mm. Sony has added in shock-resistant caps around the edges. The metallic frame is complemented by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the front and rear sides.
The microSD card and nano SIM card slots have moved to the left hand side and are protected by a cap. It is a bit of a task removing the SIM card slot and you will need either long nails or tweezers. On the right hand side, you have the power/standby button followed by the volume rocker button and at the base you have the dedicated camera shutter button. The metallic build on these buttons gives a good feedback. The 3.5mm audio jack is located on the top and the microUSB charging port is on the base.
The Xperia Z3+ comes with IP 65/68 certifications making it water and dust resistant. The microUSB charging port is capless as well. The metallic frame and rear side are a bit too smooth to give a solid grip, and if you are trying hard to grip it in the wet monsoon conditions, the close location of the power/standby button and the volume rocker buttons leads to lot of accidental presses. We would have preferred some gap between these buttons.
Features: 8/10
Housing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC which has an octa-core processor paired with 3GB of RAM, the Sony Xperia Z3+ has impressive internals. On the storage front, you have 32GB of which around 18GB was available to the user. It does offer a microSD card slot in case you wish to expand the storage capacity.
The phone comes with Android 5.0.2 along with Sony's Xperia skin atop it. On first glances the layout does not look any different from what we had seen with the Z3/Z3 Compact or even Z2. Apart from Sony's custom widgets, there are also some pre-installed apps and media content, which you can delete or uninstall.
On the connectivity front, the Xperia Z3+ comes with a single SIM slot which takes in a nano SIM card. It supports Wi-fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS and supports USB OTG.
Software: 7/10
Just like most Sony phones we have seen in the past, the Xperia Z3+ also comes with the Xperia skin on the Android 5.0.2 OS. The Xperia skin has a typical look and like always, Sony tries again to push out its custom media widgets by default. Proprietary apps such as Album, Video, Whats New, Lifelog, PlayStation, Xperia Care, Sony Live are complemented with other known ones such as LinkedIn, Kobo Books, AVG Protection and game bundles.
An interesting addition to the proprietary apps is the Movie Creator app, which makes short films after you have shot a certain number of photographs/videos. Quite a fun app when you are on a vacation. The left most screen gives you the option to arrange apps according to various parameters. Long holding onto the home screen will pull up the features such as widgets, wallpapers, themes and other home page settings.
Performance: 8/10
Thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, the phone is quite speedy and there are no lags whatsoever during operation, be it switching between apps, transition animations, using heavy apps, browsing with 20+ tabs open and so on. Call quality is good and the earpiece speaker is loud enough. We did not face any random call drops.
In terms of multimedia, the phone delivers the goods. Sound quality is quite good and the phone speakers can get loud. Watching videos on the phone is a pleasant experience so long as you do not have a direct light source behind you. Backlight bleeding is minimal and barely noticeable.
But the major problem with the Xperia Z3+ is the annoying heating issue. Play a heavy game, stream video or use the video camera, and the rear side of the phone will start heating up. In some instances merely having the phone for long duration in your jeans pocket is enough to heat it up. If you are going to use the AR features while shooting with the camera, then it will also keep flashing warnings that the app will shut down on overheating. This is an issue we had faced with the Xperia Z3 and the issue remains. In fact, even when you are just browsing through the photographs, the phone's rear tends to heat up as if you are running some heavy game! This can be quite annoying. We don't know if it is the Snapdragon 810 heating issue or something that is a given with Sony phones. Hopefully Sony could release some software updates to better manage the heat when certain apps are activated.
Display: 7.5/10
The Sony Xperia Z3+ comes with a 5.2-inch full HD display. Like we have seen in the past, it brings Sony's Triluminos display for mobile with X-reality engine for mobile. The display also comes with smart adaptive display which helps to show you a balanced image even in bright sunlit conditions. We faced no issues with the phone while using it outdoors and legibility in the sunlight as well as while composing photographs outdoors wasn't an issue. The display is bright and colours are vivid. The text appears crisp and there isn't any pixellation that stands out. But the protective cover on the display surface makes it a smudge magnet and you will need to constantly keep cleaning the phone. You are better off removing the protective cover altogether.
Camera: 8.5/10
Sony is one of the leading smartphone sensor makers. The Xperia Z3+ has the 20.7MP Exmor RS sensor sporting rear camera with a sensor size of 1/2.3-inch and an aperture of f/2.0. On the front there is a 5MP camera with 1/5-inch Exmor R sensor sporting sensor with f/2.4 aperture. Both the cameras sport 25mm wide-angle lenses. The rear camera is flush with the surface and does not create a bump. Camera interface is similar to what we have seen with older flagships which features such as Intelligent Auto, Manual mode, AR effects, High frame rate shooting and so on.
PS: Please click on images to download the high res files
In terms of image quality, the Sony Xperia Z3+ like its flagship predecessors, does not disappoint. In fact, you could easily use the Xperia Z3+ as a companion camera to your DSLR on outdoor trips. The daylight shots were packed with details and the image quality was really good. The greens appear more vivid than other colours, but we do not mean to say that the image output has a green tinge. Focus acquisition is generally speedy, unless you are in low lit conditions.
The Manual mode lets you play around with the settings if you are not satisfied with the auto mode. Although we have to say, the intelligent auto mode is indeed quite smart. Sony has added in a Gourmet preset, which tends to make your food shots look even tempting. Low light photography is not as impressive as the LG G4, but clearly better than what we had seen with the OnePlus One and the Xiaomi Mi 4 / Mi 4i.
The Steadyshot feature gives really steady videos, specially if you are shooting handheld while walking. It smoothens out the jerks with elan. Video quality is quite good for shooting casual home videos. It is also capable of shooting 4K video. You can also play around with the presets such as high frame rate videos, AR fun and so on. Alright, enough talking, let us see some sample images shot from the Xperia Z3+.
Battery Life: 8/10
Sony Xperia Z3 had a 3,100 mAh battery which was impressive. The Xperia Z3+ has a 2,930mAh battery and Sony claims that it can give around 2 days worth of usage. The phone supports quick charge feature which lets you charge the phone completely in 45 mins using Sony charger, but in our testing we found that it took around 70 mins to fully charge the phone, which isn't bad so to speak. With 20 mins of charging you get enough charge to keep you going for more than a couple of hours.
In terms of battery life, the PC Mark for Android test gave a score of 8 hours 51 minutes, which is quite impressive. On regular use involving calling, messaging, surfing the web, gaming, streaming videos, the Xperia Z3+ can easily last over a day and a half. Not to mention, it comes with dedicated power saving modes, which can further improve the battery life if you activate them. On the whole, Sony has continued its battery life goodness from the previous gen Xperia Z3, despite having a lesser capacity.
Verdict and Price in India
Sony Xperia Z3+ blazes across when it comes to benchmark scores and raw performance. The camera performance is one of the best we have seen among the current crop of flagship devices, specially the steadyshot videos. And the battery life of the phone impresses. But heating issues is the major Achilles heel that the Japanese company has to take care of with its flagship phone. Then you have the price point.
At Rs 55,900, the Sony Xperia Z3+ is priced way over the current flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy S6, LG G4, Apple iPhone 6 and so on. Even with the Xperia Z3 we had observed that the price was ridiculous at Rs 51,990, so with the Z3+ at Rs 55,900 it is obvious that Sony has to rethink their pricing strategy. Specially now, when all the action is happening in sub-Rs 25,000 phones. Sony cannot put on blinders and ignore the impact of upstarts such as OnePlus and Xiaomi among others. So even though the phone is a good overall performer, except when it comes to heat management, at Rs 55k it is difficult to recommend the phone.
Tags: Sony Xperia Z3, Sony Xperia Z3 price India, Sony Xperia Z3 review, Sony Xperia Z3+ battery life, Sony Xperia Z3+ camera, Sony Xperia Z3+ performance
Almost exactly 15 months ago, the OnePlus One made its debut as a $299 flagship smartphone to wow the geeks; and it's even been lowered to $249 as of last month. That, of course, is to make way for the company's next act, the OnePlus 2 (we were asked to stick with "2" instead of "Two"). This update is actually not all that secretive no thanks to the teasers and a recent leak, but that's not to say you should lose interest in it, especially given the improved camera, better display, extra RAM and the switch from plastic to a more resilient magnesium alloy frame. Not to mention that the 2 also comes with a USB Type-C port, a fingerprint reader, dual Nano SIM slots and a special "alert" slider. As for the OnePlus 2's price: the 64GB version will retail for $389 while the 16GB version will cost you $329. Let's break it down.
Gallery | 30 Photos
OnePlus 2
It's interesting to see OnePlus adopting metal in favor of the cheaper plastic for its latest flagship, which explains why this new phone will cost a tad more than when its predecessor launched last year. That said, it's been well over a year for the first lot of OnePlus One users, so perhaps they won't mind the little extra cost for the much anticipated update. And it's not just the change of material, either; take a closer look and you'll notice the subtle curve -- from the screen to the back side -- on the magnesium alloy frame. It's a bit like how Motorola crafted the latest Moto X, not as apparent but still a nice touch. There are also stainless steel accents throughout that contributes to an overall more premium feel compared to the original.
Speaking of the back, yes, you can still swap the cover, but with much ease this time: just pop it off from the bottom left corner (after which you'll have access to the dual Nano SIM tray underneath). At launch, OnePlus will be offering four alternative covers -- Kevlar, bamboo, rosewood and black apricot -- should you wish to try something other than the black sandstone that comes with the phone. Bear in mind, however, that one of these StyleSwap covers will cost you around $26.99 each.
One notable addition to the OnePlus 2 is a special "alert slider" on the phone's left spine. Unlike the usual mute switch you would find on an iPhone, this one actually toggles between three different notification profiles: "None," which disables all notifications, "Priority," which only enables notifications from your priority contacts and "All," which, you guessed it, enables all of them. Funnily enough, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei said this idea actually came from a Reddit user, who wants to solve small pain point: the "Do Not Disturb" button isn't always easy to find on Android. CEO Pete Lau doesn't want to stop there, though, because to him, disabling all notifications means you want total focus, so he's even considering some sort of lockdown mode that forbids you from using your OnePlus 2 until you flip the switch to either "Priority" or "All."
As with many other recent top-tier smartphones, the OnePlus 2 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810, a chipset consisting of a 1.8GHz octa-core 64-bit processor and an Adreno 430 GPU. In light of said chip's overheating rumors from earlier this year, OnePlus specifically pointed out that it's using the cooler 810 v2.1 which, in combination with the thermal gel and graphite stuffed into the body, should keep the phone palm-friendly in most cases (Qualcomm tells us that "virtually all OEMs who have announced devices based on the Snapdragon 810 processor are currently using version 2.1"). We didn't feel the phone getting too warm in our brief hands-on, but we'd need more extensive testing to see if this is truly the case.
Other specs are as you'd expect on a flagship phone today: 3GB or 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 16GB or 64GB of internal storage (no microSD expansion due to risk of hindering performance), a 3,300 mAh fixed battery and a near-native Android 5.1 in the form of OnePlus' OxygenOS. The latter offers a handful of innovative features beyond the default Lollipop interface. For one thing, it lets you toggle on-screen nav buttons on in case you dislike the capacitive hardware controls. You can also rearrange the order of those buttons and customize the look of the menu with "dark mode" and different accent colors.
The latest version of OxygenOS also introduces a beta feature called "Shelf," which you can access by swiping right on the home screen. It basically consists of a couple of default widgets of your frequently accessed apps and contacts, though a OnePlus spokesperson tells us that the company hopes to open up the Shelf API so that it can be customized further by developers.
What may appear to be a slight let-down would be the screen. On paper, it's the same 5.5-inch LCD with a 1080p resolution, rather than a sharper 2K option. Lau told me that he's not into the resolution war because 1080p is sufficient for most people; instead, he focused on improving the screen's clarity and brightness this time, because he found out that that's how the iPhone 6 Plus won over so many people. So if you place the One and 2 side by side, you should notice the improvement. But by itself, the OnePlus 2's display didn't strike us as particularly noteworthy at first glance. It's certainly brighter than most smartphones in its class (about 600 nits of brightness, we're told), but brightness alone won't necessarily make it stand out.
Beneath that display, you'll find another addition: a fingerprint reader. Unlike the TouchID button on the iPhone, this particular version is entirely capacitive and is not "clickable" like other home buttons. We're told that the fingerprint reader is a hair faster than that of the iPhone -- less than 0.5 second -- and can hold up to five different profiles. On either side of it are the aforementioned capacitive navigation buttons which light up when they're in use. Another upside is that USB Type-C port: few other smartphones have it, and even those are rarely available outside of Asia. The OnePlus 2 could very well be the first globally available handset to ship with it. Bonus: the USB cable it comes with is dual-reversible at both ends and promises to be tangle-free.
Camera-wise, don't be fooled by the same 13-megapixel and f/2.0 specs, because the real upgrade lies within the pixel density: a generous 1.3um instead of the common but smaller 1.12um for this resolution, meaning it's more capable in dark environments and therefore fewer blurry shots. In addition to that, the new camera is assisted by optical image stabilization, laser focus plus dual-LED flash. It's no wonder the OnePlus 2 is almost 1mm thicker and 0.46 ounces heavier; but who cares, right? Admittedly, the lowering of the camera looks funny and will take some getting used to, but it's designed that way so that your fingers are less likely to block the lens. On the other side of the phone, there's a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for those who seek to satisfy their selfie needs.
As nice as the OnePlus 2 is, we regret to bring you the sad news that it'll be launched with an invitation-based system on August 11th (Only the 64GB version will be available at launch; the 16GB version will come later). Yes, that does mean you'll have to keep an eye on OnePlus' forum, or ask around in the gym for some spare invites.
Update: OnePlus has confirmed that there's no NFC on its latest flagship, because "most of our users weren't using" it. It's certainly an odd move given that mobile payments are starting to take off.
Additional reporting by Nicole Lee.
Tags: android, android5.1, china, featured, features, hands-on, oneplus, oneplus 2, oneplus two, oxygenos, phone, snapdragon 810, videoAs app developers and marketers wait eagerly for the launch of Android M, they have quite a few reasons to get excited. But they also have one reason to be slightly worried: Google's plans for a new data sharing process, which will allow Android users to share less information with apps.
Where today users downloading an Android app have to grant all required permissions before installing an app, under the new policy, apps will only be able to ask for a specific permission when a feature of the app requires it.
The first and most obvious change we should expect to see from this policy is users becoming more selective. Users will start refusing and rejecting intrusive apps and in turn developers will have no choice but to ask for less information.
So what can app makers do to adjust to this change? Here are a few tips:
Don't be greedy
Jonathan Bartov, VP Business Development at the caller ID app Sync.ME, recently told me, "The same way a mechanic can't fix your car without looking under the hood, our ability to provide users with a valuable service is dependent on our permissions. Many developers take advantage of users' trust to request unnecessary permissions, which has caused a backlash of suspicion towards all permission requests."
If your app is using fake functionalities in order to disguise its data-sucking aspirations, you should either pivot or suffer the consequences. It is now time for every app marketer to take a closer look at their product's permission requests list and rewrite it in a more minimalistic state of mind.
Explain yourself
Users have every right to be suspicious and even afraid of intrusive apps, and the best way to battle this fear is by providing valuable information. If you want to make a successful transition to the new data sharing system, give your app-page content and onboarding screens a makeover and include informative explanations of how this data is shared and why it is needed.
Educating users regarding the contribution of each request in a reassuring way that will convince them to hit "approve" is quite the challenge, but app makers must learn how to do a better job introducing their product in a more transparent and clear fashion.
Find the right time and place
Since the permission-request stage will no longer appear solely as part of the download procedure, Android developers will need to study users' actions in order to understand exactly when it's the right moment to ask for permission as well as attach each request to the right value provided to users. For instance, instead of asking for access to a user's camera right after he or she has installed the app, the app will wait for the user to perform a task that requires using their camera and only then present them with a permission request. This should decrease users' concerns and convince them to play along and approve.
Go behind enemy lines
The new data sharing system makes Android's permissions-request process much more similar to that of iOS, a good enough reason for Android specialists to cross over and learn something from how it's done on iPhone.
This recommendation is not only relevant when it comes to permission requests. For a while now, we've seen Google make "Apple moves" and vice versa. It would be smart of app marketers and developers specializing in one particular OS to learn how the other half of the mobile world lives and use this upcoming change as an opportunity and a wake-up call.
While a more focused data sharing system is definitely a positive change, the true meaning of Google's latest move is in forming better relationships between Android developers and users by building stronger communication skills and paying more attention to users' needs. Frightening? Yes, but at the same time, this is an opportunity to get closer to your users and build a trustful relationship with them.
1. MapstrAvailable on: iOSPrice: FreePublisher: HulabBetween Google Maps and Nokia's Here service, all of our basic mapping needs are covered, but there's a place for Mapstr alongside the market leaders.
Mapstr adds a personal touch to your navigation experience, allowing users to tag their favourite locations and keep track of them on custom-built maps.
You can tag your favourite clubs, restaurants, friends' houses and more, sharing them with your contacts who require directions to an obscure place.
2. BBC iPlayer RadioAvailable on: iOS, Android, Windows PhonePrice: FreePublisher: BBCIf you're an avid radio listener, BBC iPlayer Radio is probably installed on your device already, but you may not be aware of its latest feature on iOS and Android devices.The app now supports radio downloads, allowing users to save programmes locally and listen to them anywhere without eating into their data allowance.
Downloaded content can be stored for up to 30 days.
3. Microsoft HyperlapseAvailable on: Windows Phone, AndroidPrice: FreePublisher: MicrosoftShaky video footage is a thing of the past with Microsoft's latest app for Windows Phone, PC and Android devices.Hyperlapse lets users record super-stabilised clips and enhance footage shot with an action camera or drone thanks to an advanced algorithm.
The app was originally released for select Android devices in preview form, but the full version has now launched on Google Play.
4. TrringAvailable on: AndroidPrice: Free (with in-app purchases)Publisher: InnovplexTrring is an Android app that will transform you lock screen into a hub for launching all of your favourite apps.It takes the form of an old-school rotary phone dialler, with icons for WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and your web browser of choice replacing the numbers.
Life is easier when your lock screen isn't limited to your dialler and camera apps, but right now Trring is a work in progress that's still being fine tuned by its developers.
5. TagstrAvailable on: iOSPrice: FreePublisher: DupliaTagstr is an emerging social network that combines elements of Pinterest and Twitter, allowing iPhone users to share photos, videos and audio files grouped by hashtag.Many Facebook News Feeds are repositories of useless information, but Tagstr lets users engage with one another around the content that matters to them.
Founded by British entrepreneur Michael Venn, the service has secured a boatload of funding this year, so expect to hear more about it in the near future.
6. WiFiMapperAvailable on: Android, iOSPrice: FreePublisher: OpenSignalFor those times when you'd be screwed without internet connectivity, there's WiFiMapper.This Foursquare-powered app taps into a database of more than 650 million hotspots around the world to flag up the cafes, bars, restaurants and other public spaces offering free public WiFi.
The latest version of WiFiMapper on Android uses crowdsourcing to improve the service, monitoring connection histories to assess how well each hotspot performed.
7. PocketAvailable on: iOS, AndroidPrice: FreePublisher: Read it laterPocket is a useful app for iOS and Android devices that allows users to save all forms of web content in a palatable format for reading offline.The service, which is great for commuters and travellers, recently received a major update on iOS, introducing text-to-speech functionality, essentially turning any web article into a podcast.
This update brings the app in line with its Android counterpart, which gained few bug fixes this week.
8. RA GuideAvailable on: iOSPrice: FreePublisher: Resident AdvisorIf you're a fan of electronic music, you're going to want to know where the best clubs in your city are located and when your favourite DJ is in town.RA Guide harnesses Resident Advisor's extensive database of more than one million artists, venues and event listings to bring you this information for over 120 countries.
Users can also purchase tickets for any event that floats their boat in-app.
9. HeadTrainerAvailable on: Android, iOSPrice: FreePublisher: HeadTrainer, IncBrain training apps were around long before the smartphone revolution, but HeadTrainer offers a new spin on the concept.The software is designed to improve the user's sporting abilities by testing their focus, visual-spatial awareness, decision-making, memory and processing speed.
Each test takes the form of a sports-themed mini-game, designed in collaboration with a team of neuroscientists and sporting professionals.
App of the weekMapstr takes our app of the week gong for plugging a gap in the mapping world. Adding bookmarks to Google Maps on your phone is clunky, but that doesn't matter any longer.
The services differentiates itself from the likes of Yelp and Foursquare by providing a personal experience, rather than a social one, and its maps become increasingly relevant the more you tag them.
Microsoft has recently updated their Windows Camera app for Windows 10 Mobile devices. With Windows Camera app, Microsoft is planning to retire Lumia Camera app which was once an exclusive app to Nokia Lumia devices. Windows Camera app combines the power of Lumia Camera with the simplicity of default Camera app on Windows 10. When an user opens Lumia Camera app on Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft is displaying the following message to redirect them to use Windows Camera app.
A Better Camera
We're saying goodbye to this app. For all the great features you're used to and more, use Camera instead. It's already installed and ready to go.
Have you tried the Windows Camera app on your Windows 10 Mobile device? How was your experience with it? Let us know in the comments.
Frontback, the mobile app that first takes a photo with your rear camera and then with your front camera to ostensibly catch your reaction, is shutting down. The app will cease to exist in its current form on August 15.
Frontback CEO Frédéric della Faille wrote about closing up shop in a blog post on the site:
While we've seen exciting results with some communities, for most of the new members it takes too much time and effort to understand why Frontback is different, resulting in an infrequent use of our product. After discussions with our team and investors, we realized that we couldn't reach the critical numbers that would make Frontback a sustainable social network.
Frontback, which was founded in 2011, has received a total of $3.5 million from investors. The most recent was a $3 million seed round in 2013, which included participation from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Frontback users will be able to download their photos until September 15, 2015. The iOS app will continue on as a photo app with no social network or feed, and the Android app will be removed from the Google Play store.
➤ Frontback
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Fast processor. Excellent app selection. Well-built.
The Apple iPod touch is the best media player there is if you don't want a cellular connection.
Apple's iPod touch is the last descendant of the proud race of PDAs that once roamed the wide open ranges of America. It's for people who don't want to be tied to yet another cellular subscription, forced to pay by the minute or by the month. There is nothing else like it. Its closest competitors, really, are 7-inch tablets, although those aren't pocketable. The new 2015 model brings the line up to speed with a processor that can handle the latest apps from the hottest Apple developers. The $199, 16GB iPod touch is still the least expensive way to experience iOS, and more importantly, it's the best value non-cellular media player on the market, which makes it a clear pick for our Editors' Choice. Its only true imperfection is, well, that we want more of it.
The iPod touch has four capacity levels: 16GB for $199, 32GB for $249, 64GB for $299, and 128GB for $399. The sweet spot is probably the $299, 64GB unit, which has enough storage that most people won't run out on a habitual basis. The $199 model will, as before, find a home with many children whose parents don't want them to have phones yet.
Physical FeaturesThe new iPod touch is exactly the same size as the old one, with the antennas, buttons, and cameras in the same exact places. It measures 4.86 by 2.31 by 0.24 inches (HWD) and weighs a light 3.1 ounces. It comes in blue, gold, gray, pink, red, or silver. The 1,136-by-640, 4-inch screen is the same size and brightness as the last model. This unit will fit into all of the cases, docks, and accessories that the previous iPod touch used. Apple's EarPods headphones also still come in the box.
The iPod Touch has always felt like an iPhone, but cheaper. It's nicely built, with a smooth matte metal back that isn't slippery. The white front with its Cyclopean camera up top and its round, physical Home button says iPhone, as do the shiny, chamfered metal edges. But its extremely slim body and light weight remind you that there isn't as much here as there is in an iPhone.
There's one key visible physical difference from the previous touch, and a few invisible ones. On the back, the pop-up wrist strap loop is gone; that's not much of a loss. The bottom-ported internal speaker is significantly louder than on the previous unit, although sound through the headphones is not dramatically different. The device has Bluetooth 4.1, but no NFC or a fingerprint sensor. There's also no GPS, but Apple uses a Wi-Fi hotspot database to determine location. And you get Apple's mysterious M8 motion coprocessor, which is designed to improve battery life in health and fitness apps.
Networking and ProcessorWi-Fi performance has improved considerably, especially at a distance or through walls. On a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network over a Verizon FiOS router, both the new and old iPod touch got the same speeds of 25Mbps down close to the router. At 25 feet away, though, the older iPod dropped to 5Mbps down while the newer one maintained 12.7Mbps. Add in some walls, and the older model barely eked out 1Mbps down while the newer one maintained a healthy 9Mbps. That's going to make for a lot less Wi-Fi frustration, better streaming, and much more reliable app downloads on the new model.
Let's get to the heart of why Apple needed to update this handheld: The old A5 processor is obsolete. It's just barely still on developers' radars because there are so many A5-powered iPad 2 units out there, but its days are clearly numbered, and Apple is clearly no longer developing its own software with the A5 in mind. Case in point: Apple Music, running on the previous iPod touch, is very noticeably sluggish.
Benchmarks show how huge the update from the A5 processor in previous models to the A8 chip is here. The multicore Geekbench score, which deals with behind-the-scenes processing tasks, went from 404 to 2447. Antutu's "UX Multitasking" subtest, which focuses on user interface, went from 435 to 7470. GFXBench's purely graphics-based T-Rex test went from 5.3 frames per second to 51.2.
These results, by the way, are all quite similar to the iPhone 6. The graphics benchmarks are identical, while the processor benchmarks are about 12 to 15 percent slower than the iPhone 6, reflecting a drop in processor clock speed from 1.3 to 1.12GHz.
The difference in application performance isn't as dramatic, because a lot of apps see the slower, older iPod touch and ratchet themselves back. Launching Need for Speed: Most Wanted took 17 seconds on the new iPod and 21 seconds on the old one. But anything involving photo or video processing gets a huge bump here. Exporting a one-minute iMovie took 110 seconds on the old device. On the new one? 15 seconds.
To be really picky, I'm a little concerned about the confluence of the new A8 processor and the old 4-inch screen on a low-volume product. The touch has to draft behind the more popular iPhones, and developers might think of the A8 processor as going with the larger iPhone 6 screen. But the result may actually be that apps overperform on this device, as it'll essentially act like an amped up iPhone 5S.
Battery and CameraAmping up the processor while essentially keeping about the same size battery as the last generation (1,043mAh as compared with 1,030mAh) means a loss of battery life, though. Our battery rundown test is brutal: we stream a full-screen YouTube video over Wi-Fi with the brightness and volume turned all the way up. In that test, we got about 4 hours to 4 hours, 15 minutes of battery life with the new iPod, as compared with about 4, 45 minutes with the previous unit. Apple promises eight hours of video playback, but that's locally stored video, and with the screen brightness set to about half.
Apple kicked the touch's camera up from 5 megapixels to 8 megapixels, but the increase in quality isn't uniform. The new iPod is much better at focusing flash photos and at eking out images in very low-light contexts, both with its 8-megapixel main camera and its 1-megapixel front camera. But in good light, the additional megapixels can appear compromised by noise or artifacting. Sure, you have more data, but it isn't as gorgeous as, say, the iPhone 6's 8-megapixel shots.
I've never loved Apple's one-size-fits-all video recording modes, but they always record nice 720p video at 30 frames per second on the front camera and 1080p video at 30fps on the main camera, in all lighting contexts.
And because of the word "iPod," let's take a moment to think about music. The touch sounds fine through headphones and supports uncompressed ALC audio natively, along with FLAC through third-party apps. But the iPod touch line has never had, or intended to have, audiophile-quality components. You can get an external digital-to-analog converter that hooks up to the Lightning jack, but really, if you want a dedicated audiophile music player, these things exist. Get one.
I'm not going to go further into the details of Apple's iOS 8 (soon to be iOS 9) in this hardware review. You can check out our iOS 8 review and iOS 9 coverage for more details.
Comparisons and ConclusionsApple seems to have very thought-through life cycles for its handheld products. Year one is premium; year two, midrange; year three, budget; year four, supported but not sold; and year five, for God's sake will you buy a new one already? One of the reasons that many iPod touch owners currently feel burned is because Apple kept selling the A5-powered touch well into what would have been year four, giving it (at the end) the shortest real lifespan of any iPhone-like product. Powering the new touch with an A8 resets the clock to just before year two, and makes the handheld a solid buy again.
And as I said at the beginning, there's nothing like the touch if you want a handheld media player that doesn't require a phone subscription. At its price point, it's competing with unlocked phones like the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3, the Asus ZenFone 2, and the Huawei P8 Lite. In all those cases, you're trading the touch's flagship-level graphics and processor performance for a cellular modem you may not want. This is the most power-per-dollar you can get in a truly handheld form factor, and it runs gorgeous games, high-quality media apps, and even Microsoft Office. It's great for kids and for anyone else who wants iOS apps without investing in a $600 iPhone.
I very rarely award products five stars, but I would have done so here if the iPod touch had better battery life. That one caveat doesn't change the central attraction of the touch, though, and it shouldn't deter you from buying one. If you're looking for a handheld media player that doesn't force you into an intimate relationship with a cellular carrier, the new iPod touch is the best option out there by far.
By Sascha Segan Lead Analyst, Mobile PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts...
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